CA Legislature Set to Vote on 'Sanctuary State' Proposal

Lawmakers reached a deal on the proposal after resistance from law enforcement officials and Gov.

This year, California lawmakers have strengthened protections for undocumented immigrants, increased the gasoline tax and extended a program aimed at compelling businesses to reduce air pollution, all in opposition to federal policies.

Even after the negotiations, the bill is the most ambitious of its kind; in 1987 OR passed a law barring state and local officers from detaining anyone exclusively on immigration charges, and state lawmakers have proposed strengthening that law this year with amendments similar to the measures introduced in California.

Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, introduced SB54 shortly after Trump's election to cut off most interactions between federal immigration agents and local police and sheriff's officers.

Police and sheriff's officials, including jail officers, will still be able to work with federal immigration authorities if a person has been convicted of one of some 800 crimes, mostly felonies and misdemeanors that can be charged as felonies.

"The California State Sheriffs' Association (CSSA) remains opposed to SB 54 writing, "... limiting local law enforcement's ability to communicate and cooperate with federal law enforcement officers endangers public safety." .

The measure cruised through the Senate and was expected to pass the Assembly before Brown blocked what many expected to be an easy lay-up to victory for de León and advocates for the undocumented community.

"It's a purposeful positioning", said political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior fellow at the University of Southern California.

California's three investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, said the bill does not protect customers from the cost of switching from fossil fuels.

A federal judge in Chicago ruled Friday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions can not follow through with his threat to withhold public safety grant money to so-called sanctuary cities for refusing his order to impose tough immigration policies.